Well, I needed a better set of shocks on my bike as the current set was bottoming out two up if you hit a playing card even with the pressure all the way up.. After doing some reading here I settled on trying a set of Ohlins and saw the recommendations to go see Howard for a set. Fortunately for me Howard's shop is within 15 minutes of here and after speaking I took a trip over there Saturday. After Howard spent some time educating me a bit on shocks and discussing my riding style I ended up with a set of 2 ADJ's. We put them on the bike and dialed them in a bit. Howard is very meticulous and he spent quite while checking everything and getting it right. We did a few trial runs and gothing working pretty nice. (Without his help I am going to say I'd have spent a lot longer to get it setup and it wouldn't have been nearly as close.) I decided to leave the preload closer to the what would be good for two up riding and it still was loads better than before. I got in a nice log ride today and have to say the results are pretty amazing. The old shocks (which were 12" Ultimas) were not even close to these. My best description is the old shocks made the bike handle like it had a lot of slop on the back end. 65 mph felt really fast before. Today I was riding up towards Lake O and realized I was going much faster than that. Overall I am very impressed with these shocks and can't wait to take my wife for a ride and see how it handles two up. Big thanks to Howard for all the help!!

 

Cool beans...you made the right choice and how convenient to have Howard's shop so close. Ride-on!

 

Well done and great choice. The Atlantic comes between me and Howard, but we also got things just so. Mrs R is going to be impressed, I can assure you!

 

Can't wait till Saturday so I can see how she likes it and give it some fine tuning if need be.

 

Apart from setting sag I didn't make any adjustments to mine until I had covered a few hundred miles. They do run in and get better, a bit like a new engine!

 

Hey GR,
Got it out today and put some miles on the shocks. Kept my eye on the zip tie Howard put on the shaft and it's right there with about 1/4 inch of shaft showing below it. The only thing I touched was changing the damper setting back two click to where Howard suggested for two up riding. My wife loved the ride. She said the only way she new we were hitting bumps was from the front end. I have to agree. The rear end is so smooth that the front may need to get done at some point in the future.
Howard, if you happen to see this, thanks again for the help!

 

Getting the front forks on and working. Pretty soon it will be winter once again and too cold to go into the carriage house with the Lorry.

 

Talked to howard today and finally pulled the trigger on some #3-3. Howard was awesome and ordering the shocks was a breeze. Looking forward to an end to the torrential downpours in the nw and burning up the miles with my wife !!